Crypt Sermon - 2015 - Out Of The Garden

Holy shit this came out in 2015. I thought this album is way younger (last year or something), I'm pretty sure I included it in my end of the year list of likes. At first I didn't dig this album very much, me not being a huge doom junkie helped a lot but eventually it did grow on me quite a bit. This happens a lot to me when it come to more slower sounding bands, I can't remember what the fuck they were duing.  Crypt Sermon plays that old-ish style of doom that sounds all grandiose and majestic, you know, Candlemass and shit like that but to me they definitely seem a bit more faster than your usual trad doom band. I remember vaguely that this album did quite a splash (at least on the internet) and I think it was pretty deserved, this album is just pure unpretentious fun. It rides that fine line of packing a punch but still being catchy and memorable. I often find myself humming hooks from this album because they really are just that great. The vocals help here a lot, being dramatic and all that but not sounding cringy. It's honest and that's what counts here.

Byzaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaantium mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm~

Crystal Age - 1995 - Far Beyond Divine Horizons

"Hey that looks like the ship from Thresholds!" that was my first thought when I saw this album but the similarities pretty much end there (if we ignore the fact that they're both death metal bands obviously). Crystal Age was a short lived band from Sweden that made this album and then moved on to bigger (not necessarily better) things. They left in their wake a very solid and intense old school death metal album that has that signature Gothenburg production (and raspy, strained screaming vocals) but it's not that keen on pleasant harmonies. The guitars and drums pound relentlessly with good riffs and fast solos throughout this relatively short sci-fi journey. Nocturnus clone this is not but if you're looking for hidden gems give this one a thorough listen.

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Aoki Takamasa - 2013 - RV8

I'm a complete plebeian when it comes to electronic music. I'm familiar with a couple of those monolithic bands that you will inescapably hear if you spend more than ten minutes on the net but beyond that I every now and then pick something out that might be good (to me at least) on random chance. I came across this album via an interesting video that piqued my interest on account of the visuals. The album itself is a series of transitions of rhythm, mostly rooted in the same idea but played out differently each time. It's an interesting exploration of rhythm and texture that I always like to listen on long-ish road trips where I can focus on each little detail.

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Zaum - 2014 - Oracles

Even though the stoner metal scene is riddled with generic copycats and Sleep worshiping every now and then a band will pop up that offers something a little bit different. Zaum is a Canadian band that takes those middle eastern influenced sounds of Dopesmoker and rides with them in fifth gear on the first two tracks. They're atmospheric, massive and just right enough length to not get obnoxiously boring. The riffs might not be the second coming of Tommy Iommi but they do an excellent job of conveying hypnotic feelings. After those two tracks the albums switches to a more OM influenced sound (especially on the last track) which are admittedly less interesting than the A side of the album but are still enjoyable in their own right.

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Conrad Herwig - 2000 - Unseen Universe

A jazz album inspired by physics? Maybe in titles alone, I don't really know music theory that much to compare its compositions to modern ideas in physics. Nevertheless this great album showcases that there's still plenty of room for less popular brass instruments to be in the spotlight conventional or not. I always loved the sound of trombones, they're warm and pleasant and can sound ridiculously good and technical when in the right hands and Conrad definitely is the man with the right hands. This is an unrelenting contemporary post-bop album that keeps a firm hold of tradition but still sounds fresh and interesting. A great little adventure that should not be missed. Oh and Dave Kikoski absolutely rips shit up with the piano on this as well.

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Oppressor - 1994 - Solstice Of Oppression

Speaking of less known gems here's another album but this time in the realm of death metal. Early Gorguts came to mind when I heard this but this one is much more malignant, more sinister and more nuanced. Honestly the vocals are the only thing that are kinda middle of the road, they're your generic 90s death metal deep growls but the other parts of this intricate machinery are shining examples of innovation and progression that was occurring during the golden age (imho) of death metal. The music is riddled with these great passages between fast and slow parts that seamlessly come and go giving this album a good display of how should a dynamic album sound. Every track is some kind of maze of riffs and tempo changes with a good layering of subtle background atmosphere. A shame they didn't get more spotlight time.

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Realm - 1988 - Endless War

Realm was an underappreciated thrash metal band from the US that raided and pillaged for about few years in the late 80s and then went on their merry way. They left us two albums with Endless War being their first. Everything that we can expect from the production of an 80s thrash metal band is here but the band often develops their ideas in a more progressive and complex song structure. A primitive thrash album this is definitely not. These guys were pretty talented musicians and this album absolutely shows it with plenty of ripping and interesting riffs. Vocals lean more on the heavy metal side of things with Judas like yells and choruses (Vio-Lence comes to minds). All in all this albums is fucking fun and should definitely get much more attention. Solos galore.

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Walter Smith III - 2006 - Casually Introducing

Modern jazz often suffers from the stigma of being stale and uneventful. I was under that impression for a long time as well, the genre (or scene) seems impenetrable from the outside but all it takes is a little patience and willingness to look. The genre definitely isn't in the foreground at the moment but it still produces a lot of great records and a lot of great musicians. Walter Smith III leans on a much more conventional side of jazz but like a lot of modern jazz albums the 100 years of jazz is jam packed in his music and playing. A careful observer might notice that this cover is very familiar to another classic one and you would find out why as soon as the record starts with the cover of Cyclic Episode (originally by Sam Rivers. It's old and new but through a filter of a new generation that definitely has a lot to prove (standing on the shoulders of giants and all that but they definitely has a lot to offer.

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Apollo Brown - 2011 - Clouds

Even though lo-fi hip hop channels are now pretty accessible and popular on youtube the "genre" has been around for years. It's simpler now just to put on some livestream channel and relax but there are albums lying around that are pretty good as well. The listener should be aware that this microgenre is mainly designed to be background music (or foreground if you're interesting in beat making) so most of these tracks are monotonous and laid back. It's great for music for fucking around or while doing work. As long as those drums are mushy and bassy it's all good and you'll get your head in the clouds.

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Urzeit - 2013 - Urzeit

I don't know why but there's a strange degree of comfiness that comes with listening lo-fi black metal in the middle of the night. Bonus points if it's snowing of course. Urzeit fills this niche need for comfiness with all of it's might on this demo. This demo is raw and unpolished with a bit of punkish flair (as it goes with American black metal it seems) and it's over rather quickly. But for the duration that it lasts it offers a nice variety in riffs and structure. Not really as good or impactful as their latter releases but still a very enjoyable demo when you're in that special mood.

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Charles Mingus - 1960 - Blues and Roots

Mingus is one of those artists where his personality is often more talked about than his music but I think I'll skip the stories and anecdotes and just get straight to the point. Blues & Roots is precisely that, blues and other roots of jazz music. The best track perhaps is Moanin (an original, not a cover of Moanin')  but each track is its own beast played with a lot skill and passion. All of them are quite good and a testament of the passion that Mingus had for music. Recommended.

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Gorephilia - 2012 - Embodiment Of Death

Gorephilia is a fantastic new band coming from Finland. So far they have two albums and both are fantastic with Embodiment of Death being their first. Their sound is a mixture of various old school death metal bands but I think their main influences were Morbid Angel (the fast parts) and Entombed (the slow parts). Everything on this record is brimming with energy and potential although some tremolo parts can get a bit boring. Some variety would do them good and it did on their second album but here they're more primal and upfront. Even with at times mediocre riffs this is an excellent album of a promising band that you should check out if you're into death metal.

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Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe - 1987 - Onye Lusia Olie

Is there anything more happier than the highlife genre? I wouldn't know but it's definitely hard to top it. I recently started to explore the genre in more detail and even though the genre is very repetitive and insular the feeling of joy is ever present. Harmonies and jingle guitars is sometimes all you need to have a bit of fun and highlife is just that. Check it out sometimes, you might fall in love with it like I did.

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Sun Ra - 1972 - Life Is Splendid

Here's a pretty good live album by Sun Ra. The production is something that could have been improved like with a lot of Sun Ra albums (especially live ones) but if you're into Sun Ra you already know what to expect. The set they played contains most of their standards that they played at the time (Space is The Place, Watusi etc.) but with a renewed intensity. I don't know what was going on there but something compelled them to really play the shit out of these songs. Everything is turbo here and it's fucking glorious. This intensity is perhaps most obvious on the fifth track where the band yell s their astro-philosophy at the audience, even laughing at them. Really surreal and amazing at the same time. Even the track Watusi which is always a lively track seems like it's about to implode. Stars really spoke to them that night and lucky for us it was recorded. This a must for any Sun Ra fan in my opinion.

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Ignivomous - 2012 - Contragenesis

Sometimes you just want to be a lump of flesh on the anvil of an uncaring void that keeps mutilating your body and your sanity. That's pretty much this album, its ethos of contragenesis is preserved throughout this album from start to finish. Once it starts there is no going back from the swirling muck that this album conveyed. In all seriousness though as far as Incantation love letters go this one is among the top. I especially love the fact that they preserved some of their more thrashy kind of riffs that were more present on their demos.

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